On Rain

The last week has been wet.  As a Seattle native I don't mind the rain all that much.  In fact, there's a lot that I love about the rain. I love the sound it makes as it taps steady on rooftops.  I love how it turns streets into canvases that can be painted neon by store signs or splashed with alternating coats of red, green and yellow by traffic lights.  I love the slick sound of tires through puddles.  I love raindrops across windows and windshields and how each drop picks up and reflects the surrounding world in miniature.  I love the smell of the first rain after a dry spell.  At times rain is perfect.  When you have absolutely nowhere to go, the rain can be a nice excuse to curl up inside with a good book or a movie you've been meaning to watch and just relax.

Rain can also be a nuisance, though (like when you have to walk home and you're wearing ballet flats and an effectively useless jacket and it just starts to absolutely pour).  However, since we moved into our condo and pretty much walk everywhere that's walkable, I decided to prepare myself for the inevitable winter rain.  I bought new rain boots and started keeping a small umbrella in my over-sized tote and I wear my rain jacket if the skies display even the slightest hint of breaking out in any one of rain's many incarnations (be it the possibility of a steady drizzle, quick sun shower, light mist or torrential downpour).  And I'm happy to report so far, so good. On the days it's been raining, I bundle up in my rain gear, coax Buckwheat out the door and marvel at the way things look after a healthy dose of sopping, wet rain (while I stay warm and dry)!

Below are some recent rainy day iPhone photos:

This is what Buckwheat looks like when it's raining

This is my rain appropriate gear

On Friday afternoon the water was rising and the skies were misty

It was a little muddy (but I didn't mind)

Here's a view of Holy Cross Church and the waterlogged levee

I swear the levee went from a dried up brown to a lush green overnight!

View from the footbridge over the San Lorenzo

Rising water levels under the 1

Rainy day discoveries

Berries and Vines

Wet grass, dry feet.

My fall foliage obsession continues . . .

A dog's gotta walk, rain or shine!

Okay, we're getting a little wet -- time to get back inside!

And this is what a pool looks like after a couple days of rain

 On Sunday, the skies cleared (after a morning of heavy rain and flash flood warnings) and the San Lorenzo River levee looked like this:

High waters under blue skies

Clouds in the river path

Okay, I might also be obsessed with puddles . . .

Yep, it's official.

Water levels on Sunday

The footbridge over the San Lorenzo

The river from the west side.

The San Lorenzo displays a rare current

But let's get back to the puddles!

More crrents and puddles . . .

And here's one more puddle photo from today:

Branches in puddles (puddled branches?)

I love living somewhere where it's sunny for most of the year and I know that if it rains for too many days in a row, I'm going to miss that sunshine (and all the possibilities that a sunny day entails) but, at least for now, the rain feels like a nice change.